Top Ten Tuesday: 5 of My Audiobook Experiences

This week’s topic is all about audio, so I thought I’d talk about audiobooks. I don’t tend to listen to a lot of them unless I’m actively doing something like dishes or folding laundry or driving because otherwise my attention starts to wander. But audiobooks when done well with a good voice actor can really transport you–like a movie does but you still get to imagine more. Instead of just listing books that I’ve read audibly, I thought I’d share some recollections of my experiences with audiobooks.

The Best Audiobook Experience Ever

Aka listening to all seven Harry Potter books being read by Jim Dale and Stephen Fry. Those voices! They transport you straight to Hogwarts. I actually want to re-listen to all the books this year. Do you have an opinion on which narrator is the best?

First Audiobook as a Couple

My now fiancé and I listened to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo during a long car trip to California for my cousin’s wedding about five years ago. It was the first time we’d done that together and we enjoyed getting to read a book simultaneously and discussing it between discs.

They Abridge Audiobooks?

I was obsessed with Meg Cabot as a teenager and adored her historical romances geared towards young adults, Nicola and the Viscount and Victoria and the Rogue. When I first listened to these as a way to get myself to fall asleep, I noticed that the (fairly) short books had actually been abridged and parts of them were missing. I knew the books so well I couldn’t miss these moments, which to be fair were not crucial to the plot (but there wasn’t anything inappropriate about them–maybe they just didn’t want to have to shell out for another CD?).

Wait…What Happened?

My latest audiobook experience was with Chinua Achebe’s No Longer At Ease. While I really enjoyed Things Fall Apart, I struggled to get through this book (and now I have to get through the third one…). I was distracted basically the whole time while listening, and I think I ended up getting the essential plot, but really only about one third of the book I would vouch for understanding.

The Man at the Library

Lately I’ve been volunteering for my local Friends of the Library’s Mini Monday Book Sale (it’s great because the books are so cheap and when I’m not ringing people up I get to sit and read my book), and I’ve enjoyed meeting new people and talking to them about books. One gentleman bought some gardening books and then told me that his daughter had told him about audiobooks. Not just that the library had a great selection them or that he could access them digitally from the library catalogue, but that they existed! He seemed so jazzed by the idea that it made my day. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a particular book to recommend to him, but I loved how pumped he was by the idea that he could read on his commute.

So those are five of my most memorable experiences with audiobooks. Do you have any experiences to share? Let me know in the comments.

I haven’t had a chance to listen to Stephen Fry, but I love Jim Dale and have heard that you can’t go wrong with either.

My most memorable audiobook experience was when I was relistening to a Harry Potter book and feel asleep on the ferry. I am a huge insomniac and that experience made a big change in my life since I had never fallen asleep so easily; I now relisten to something every night.